Penn Medicine Becker ENT & Allergy in Monroe, NJ provides comprehensive ear care by giving patients access to an entire team of highly qualified audiologists and ENT specialists. Individuals suffering from hearing loss or related disorders can find lasting solutions to their ear problems at our ultra-modern facility in Monroe, NJ.
What is Audiology?
Audiology is the field of hearing, balance, and other related disorders. An audiologist is a certified healthcare professional trained to identify, assess, and treat hearing loss and other related disorders. Experts in audiology seek to establish whether an individual has normal sensitivity to sounds.
In simple terms, an audiologist is an ear doctor or a hearing doctor. Hearing problems may stem from:
- Aging
- Prolonged exposure to sounds
- Vestibular or balance-related disorders
- Tinnitus that’s associated with ringing in the ears
- Ear or nerve disorders
Hearing loss can have a profound impact on a person’s quality of life. Seeking treatment as soon as you notice symptoms can help you preserve your existing hearing.
When to See a Hearing Doctor
Hearing loss often occurs gradually, and you may not notice the signs right away. Should you experience any of the following symptoms, it might be time to pay a visit to our hearing doctor in Monroe, NJ:
- Constantly requesting others to speak more slowly, loudly, and clearly
- Constantly turning up the radio or television volumes
- Difficulty in comprehending speech against high background noise
- Difficulty in hearing high-pitched sounds
- Constant ringing in the ears
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- Real patient
Hearing Loss Diagnosis
Our audiologists in Monroe, NJ, will usually run several tests to diagnose the extent of a patient’s hearing loss in a few simple steps.
Physical evaluation
Our hearing doctor will screen your ear for any possible physical triggers of your hearing loss. They may look for earwax or infection-induced inflammation. With their extensive experience in audiology, our doctors will also screen for any structural defects that may be causing your hearing loss.
Hearing tests
Our audiologists will always engage the patient in a few hearing tests to gauge their response to different sounds. To test your volume receptors, for example, the audiology expert may whisper in one of your ears while asking you to cover the other ear.
Tuning fork tests
As the name suggests, tuning forks are metallic instruments used to tune your hearing. Occasionally striking the metal forks close to the patient’s ear assists the ear doctor in detecting hearing loss as well as pinpointing the exact spot in your ear where the problem is concentrated.
Audiometer tests
These tests are more advanced. They are also usually more engaging and give a clearer picture of the hearing loss problem. A patient is required to put on a pair of earphones, followed by channeled words to each ear. The sound is initially set to high and keeps on reducing with each test. This repeated process will enable the ear doctor to determine the lowest sound a patient can actually hear.
Hearing Loss Treatment
Once your ear doctor completes the diagnosis and understands the problem, treatment may be recommended based on the origin and extent of the hearing loss. The most common treatments are:
Removing earwax blockage
This is usually the simplest and most basic treatment for hearing loss. The ear doctor will remove excess earwax using a suction tool, which usually causes any hearing loss to disappear immediately. Hearing loss caused by earwax blockage can be easily corrected.
Hearing aids
A damaged inner ear may necessitate the use of a hearing aid device. Before choosing and fitting the hearing aids, our hearing doctor will present the patient with all their options and help them determine what will work best for them.
Surgical intervention
If the patient’s hearing loss traces its roots deep in the eardrum or hearing bones, surgery may be necessary. Depending on the severity of the condition, the ear doctor may employ different sets of tools ranging from basic to sophisticated. For example, draining fluid due to an ear infection may be done by inserting small tubes in the patient’s ear.
Cochlear implants
For advanced hearing loss problems that cannot be fixed with a hearing aid device, cochlear implants might just be the ultimate solution. Beyond just amplifying sound in the ear canal, cochlear implants go further into a patient’s ear to the extreme point of stimulating the hearing nerve itself.
Frequently Asked Questions about Hearing loss
Seek help from an audiologist, inform your friends and family to get their support, position yourself to be able to hear as effectively as possible, minimize background noise, choose quiet settings for conversations, and lastly, consider adopting the use of assistive listening devices.
The first step should always be to contact your doctor. They will evaluate you and depending on the outcome, refer you to a hearing doctor for more specialized treatment. You can also reach out to a hearing doctor directly.
Hearing loss may be defined as either:
• Conductive hearing loss that only involves the outer or middle ear
• Sensorineural hearing loss that only involves the inner ear
• Mixed or hybrid hearing loss that combines the two conditions
This is a common misconception. Hearing loss can affect anyone in any age bracket.
Driving Directions to our Office in Monroe, NJ:
Our office is located at 350 Forsgate Drive, Suite 103 Monroe Township, NJ 08831. If you are in Monroe Township, NJ, you can find us easily using any of the routes below:
From NJ Turnpike Exit 8a Jamestown/Cranbury
- Take Exit 8a toward NJ-32 E/Jamesburg then merge onto Forsgate Drive.
- Travel 1.2 miles straight ahead. You will go past two traffic lights and drive over railroad tracks.
- The office will be on your right.
From Jamesburg, NJ
- Head northwest on E Railroad Avenue for 0.2 miles then make a sharp left onto Gatzmer Avenue and travel for 315 feet.
- Turn right onto Half Acre Road then travel for 0.7 miles.
- Turn right onto Forsgate Drive. Travel for 0.4 miles.
- The office will be on your left.
Directions from South Brunswick/ US Hwy Rt 130
- Head north on US-130 N then turn right onto Stults Road.
- Travel for 0.9 miles then turn right onto Cranbury South River Road. Travel for 0.6 miles.
- Turn left onto Forsgate Drive. Travel 1.4 miles. You will pass through two traffic lights and will cross over railroad tracks.
- The office will be on your right.
Schedule an audiologist consultation in Monroe, NJ
Penn Medicine Becker ENT & Allergy is the go-to ear, nose, and throat office in the greater Monroe Township community. Our team of hearing doctors always provides high-quality, personalized ear care as well as regular checkups to monitor your progress. If you’re concerned about hearing loss, you can take our preliminary test online and then give us a call to schedule a formal assessment.
If you reside in Monroe, NJ, or the surrounding areas, call us today at 609-831-0779 or reserve an appointment online to set up an ear consultation with an experienced and compassionate hearing doctor. Feel free to visit any of our offices any business day from 8 AM to 5 PM.